Gunsight



April 19, 1960 P. c. COSTA 2,932,895

GUNSIGH'I Filed March 23, 1959 Peter 6. Cosfa INVENTOR. Qf Q BY United States Patent GUNSIGHT Peter C. Costa, Bloomington, N.Y.

Application March 23, 1959, Serial No. 801,319

7 Claims. (Cl. 33-51) This invention relates to a gunsight and more particularly relates to a gunsight which may be detachably or fixedly secured to the barrel of a rifle or shotgun adjacent the muzzle thereof.

The main object of this invention is to provide a gunsight for a rifle or shotgun which may be affixed to the barrel thereof adjacent the muzzle end which has a shape, that when sighting down the barrel, will have a magnifying effect to the object on which the weapon is being brought to bear.

A further object of this invention, in accordance with the preceding object, is to provide a gunsight which will provide a sportsman three fields of sight by which he will be able to bring the weapon to bear upon a target.

Another object, in accordance with the preceding object is to provide a gunsight having white surfaces thereon defining each of the fields of sight which are formed thereby.

A still further object is to provide a gunsight which will greatly facilitate the use of the weapon to which it is attached when it is necessary to make a quick sighting.

Yet another object, in accordance with the preceding objects, is to provide a gunsight that will enable a sportsman to use his rifle or shotgun during the hour when the sun is setting or in heavily wooded sections when it has heretofore been difiicult to quickly view the front sights because of either the lack of sufiicient light or the inability of other than the most well trained human eye to maintain a small dark object in focus with a dark and irregular background therebehind.

Still another object is to provide a gunsight which may easily be reversed in its position on the barrel of a rifle or shotgun so that, if it is desired, the white surfaces thereon may be excluded from the sportsmans line of vision as he sights down the barrel from the breech end thereof.

Yet a further object, in accordance with the preceding objects, is to provide a gunsight which is extremely simple in construction and therefore could be made available to every sportsman at a very nominal price.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the gunsight shown mounted on the muzzle end of a conventional form of double barrel shotgun;

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 2-2 of Figure 1 with the outline of a flying target being shown in phantom lines and centered within the limits of the front sight;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line Patented Apr. 19, 1960 3--3 of Figure 1, portions of the shotgun barrel being broken away; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the gunsight showing the manner in which the three points or corners are slightly turned upward and also illustrating the preferred form of retaining clip used to prevent the shifting of the gunsight in respect to the gun barrel.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings the numeral 10 generally designates the gunsight comprising the present invention.

As can best be seen in Figure 4, the gunsight 10 comprises a thin sheet-like triangular member which may be disposed horizontally and secured to the barrel 12 of the shotgun 14 adjacent the muzzle thereof.

The gunsight 10 is in the form of an isosceles triangle and is secured to the barrel 12 with an apex 16 lying upon the line of sight of the gun barrel 12 and with the base edge 18 thereof extending transversely of the barrel 12 and at right angles thereto. In this manner, the base corners 20 and 22 are positioned laterally to the right and left of the gun barrel 12 respectively as seen from the breech end thereof.

With attention now drawn more specifically to Figure 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that when sighting down the gun barrel 12 towards the muzzle end thereof that the base edge 18 presents a substantially horizontal sight element with the outer ends, or base corners 20 and 22, being turned slightly upward so as to define therebetween the lateral limits of the broad field which is centered along a longitudinal center line of the gun barrel 12. The apex 16 of the gunsight 10 is also turned slightly upward and represents the exact center of the broad centered field of sight. However, it will be noted, with attention again drawn to Figure 2 of the drawings, that between the left base corner 22 and the apex 16 there is formed also a field of sight which has as its right extremity the apex 16 which lies upon the longitudinal center line of the gun barrel 12 and as its left extremity the left base corner 22 thereby providing a field of sight which is angled slightly to the left of the longitudinal center line of the barrel 12. Defined between the apex 16 and the right base corner 20 is a right field of sight which is angled slightly to the right of the longitudinal center line of the barrel 12.

Although it is not shown in the drawings, it is to be understood that the upper surface of the gunsight 10 has a white coating as well as the base edge 18. Therefore, should the available day light not be sufiicient to clearly outline an ordinary sight a person using the shotgun 14 will be able to view the white edge and surface and will have a most distinct and easily seen front sight which may be used very effectively to bracket a stationary target or to lead a moving target.

It is also to be understood that the gunsight 10, while being shown in the drawings with the apex 16 at the forwardmost end, may be positioned upon the barrel 12 in just the reverse position with the base edge 18 as its forwardmost extremity. Further, since the undersurface and the edges of the sight defining the apex angle are not provided with a white surface, if the sight is positioned in the reverse position, the top surface and the base edge 18 which are provided with white surfaces cannot be seen by a person using the shotgun 14. Thus, if the shotgun 14 is to be used in an open area where there is sufiicient lighting or an over abundance of lighting, the gunsight 10 may be positioned upon the gun barrel 12 so that a person using the shotgun 14 will not be hampered by light being reflected from a white surface.

It will be noted that there is provided a resilient clip 24, which is secured to the undersurface of the gunsight 10 in any convenient manner, that may be utilized 3 to removably secure the gunsight upon the gun barrel 12 although other convenient means may be employed for the same purpose if it is desired.

Further, the gunsight 10 may be constructed of a sight complementary to the rifle or shotgun with which it is to be used. That is, if the gunsight 10 is to be used with a rifle of small caliber, or for more accurate shooting, the length of the base edge 18 would be shorter than the base edge 18 of a gunsight 10 to be used in connection with a double barrel shotgun.

In use, if the gunsight 10 is being used to sight a rifle or shotgun upon a stationary object, the apex 16 is centered upon the object itself. However, if the target is moving to the left of the shotgun 14, the targets may then be bracketed in the right field of sight between the apex 16 and the right base corner 20 so as to properly lead the target. On the other hand, the reverse is true if the target is moving to the right of the shotgun 14, and the target is then bracketed between the apex 16 and the base corner 22 in the left field of sight.

As heretofore explained, depending upon the amount of lighting and the background the target may have, the gunsight 10 may either be positioned as is shown in the drawing with the white upper surface and the white base edge 18 visible to a person using the shotgun, or the gunsight 10 may be revresed in its position upon the gun barrel 12 so as to exclude these white surfaces from the vision of a person using the shotgun 14.

Also, many persons using the gunsight 10 will find that the white surfaces, when used, will tend to make the target appear more clearly in their vision, and also tend to make the target appear larger.

It may then be seen that herein described is a new and useful gunsight which may be placed in opposite positions to compensate for the amount of light available, and one which will provide a sportsman with three fields of sight with which he may bring his rifle or shotgun to bear on a moving or stationary target.

The clip 24 is generally inverted U-shaped and has a pair of depending resilient legs 26 each of which terminates at its lower end in an outwardly directed flange 28. The confronting surface of each of the legs 26 is concave or otherwise shaped to conform to the cross sectional shape of the gun barrel 12 in order to eifect a maximum area of contact between the latter and the gunsight 10 and as will be clearly seen in Figures 2 and 4, there has been provided a retaining clip generally referred to by the reference numeral 30 which is in the form of a tapered rectangular member having tapering opposite sides which sides each terminate in an upwardly and inwardly directed flange 32. After the gunsight 10 has been secured to the gun barrel 12 by means of the clip 24, the retaining clip 30 is positioned so that the flanges 32 embrace the flanges 28 and then the retaining clip is moved longitudinally of the gun barrel 12 until it frictionally engages the flanges 28 and urges them slightly towards each other to increase the gripping effect of the clip 24 about the gun barrel 12.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. For use with a shotgun, a front sight comprising a thin sheet-like isosceles triangle member, means on said member scouringlhglatter to the barrel portioii'dfi shotgun"'adjacent the muzzle thereof, said member being disposed horizontally with its apex lying along the line of sight of said gun, its base extending at right angles thereto and its base angles positioned laterally to the right and left thereof, the corner defining said apex and the corners defining said base angles being turned up slightly to define therebetween three fields of sight.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said apex is disposed forwardly on said gun barrel.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein the upper surface and the base edge of said triangle member are white.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said apex is disposed rearwardly on said gun barrel.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said securing means removably secures said triangle member to said gun barrel.

6. The combination of claim 5, said securing means comprising a generally inverted U-shaped resilient clip having a pair of depending legs, each of said legs having on its lower end an outwardly directed flange.

7. The combination of claim 6 including a retaining clip adapted to engage said flanges and urge them towards each other, whereby said legs will effect a greater gripping action on said gun barrel disposed therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 

